My Teenage Life and the Years Before
by dslms
Summary: Au: Chuck and Sarah - The teenage years.. Disclaimer: I own nothing but a laptop.. Chuck is not mine however much I hope it is
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**Present Time – 30****th**** September 1998 – 11:21  
**

Gloom. That's the only word I can think of to describe my life right now. My mother died, my father's on the run doing cons, my sisters in care and I had to move away. What else in my life can go wrong? Oh yes, that's right... I've been put with these stupid foster carers and let's just say 'they're not the brightest people in America let alone on earth'.

So where was I? Oh I remember, so my life generally sucks right now. I don't know where I am to be honest as I have no geography knowledge... I think I'm in Los Angeles but I'm not really sure. I have my first day at Loyola High School tomorrow and I am NOT looking forward to it at all. I hope I can wake up on time... I'm just so tired lately.

I know one thing. I miss my boyfriend! The last time I saw him was three weeks ago and I've not even been allowed to contact him. But the last time we saw each other was awesome, best night of my life ever! I'm just sorry that we didn't think of repercussions. There has been one thought that has crossed my mind many times in the last week. I NEED to determine whether it's a valid thought or not, but I don't think I actually WANT too. It could change my life forever.

* * *

**A/N - Thanks for reading :)**

**Please be kind and review. I like criticism, it makes me better ;). I also like praise, it makes me jolly. **


	2. 14 Years Ago  2nd August 1984

_**A/N - Italics are for flashback **_

**Chapter 1**

**Present Time – 30****th**** September 1998 – 19:56**

So back to where I was earlier, we made a mistake. At sixteen it is a mistake we should have NOT made! We have the rest of our lives to live with this fault now. I don't know what to do. I need to talk to HIM, but I don't know how when my phone has been taken by the social workers.

I got an offer from this man, Director Graham I think his name was. I'm not going to accept... I just CAN'T accept. Not when it would mean I would never get to see HIM ever again. There's also another reason but I don't want to voice it at the moment, it would just make it TOO real and unbearable.

I need, need, need to talk to HIM. Desperately. I still remember that first day we met.

* * *

_ **Fourteen Years Ago – 2****nd**** August 1984 – 15:37**_

_"Mummy" squeals a two year old Chuck. "Yes, Chuck-y?" chuckles his mother. "Can we go to the parkt? I've been a good boyd today". His mom was laughing at his mispronounced words as Chuck was using his innocent brown eyes to win her over. "Hmmm, I suppose you have. Go and get your sister whilst I tell your father were we're going" the woman giggled in answer to the small boy._

_"Ellie, Ellie, Ellie... We're going to the parkt!" shrieked Chuck. "Woohoo... the park, we've not been there in for ages!" squealed a joyful six year old girl._

_Once the family was ready and Stephen had been notified that they were leaving, they all piled in to the Porsche (which the neighbourhood thought was odd for saying that both parents were teachers). Ellie helped buckle Chuck up and then clipped her own belt in before their mom started the car._

_**15:59**_

_Fifteen minutes later and they were happily racing to get back out of the car; Ellie and Chuck were running (more like toddling in Chuck's case) towards the Park in order to reach the swings. It was like an infamous tradition that every time they went to the park, the first ten minutes would be spent with Ellie pushing Chuck on the swing and then Chuck trying his hardest to push Ellie. Whilst the two were laughing and giggling, their mom locked up the car and found a bench close to the swings so that she could keep an eye on them. She was admiring how close her two children were to each other and how well Ellie acted with him for saying she was four years older._

_**16:03**_

_Unknowingly to the two children at the swings, there was a little girl with curly little blonde pigtails and inquisitive bright blue eyes watching them from the sandpit wishing that she could join in. However, she was too busy watching them that she didn't realise that a woman had joined her in the sand. "You know, they won't bite. I taught them better" Mary Bartowski said behind the girl, a smile evident in her voice, but still making the little one jump. The little blonde girl turned around in question and looked at the woman in an odd manor. "They'll let you play with them" explained Mary to the girl._

_The little girl seemed to think for a minute. She then gave the biggest grin (that Mary had ever seen on such a little child) and ran towards the swings, not looking down but looking across. This was a mistake. She tripped over the edge of the sand pit and flew in the direction of the swings, landing not far from Chuck and Ellie. She seemed to be in shock when the little curly haired boy went tottering towards her thinking she needed help. But, by the time the little boy had reached her she had picked herself back up and was brushing herself off. Chuck just looked at her in awe._

_Seeing the fall/ fly, two women had also gone rushing towards the child. Both reaching her at about the same time, "Sarah!" shouted a blonde woman when she managed to get to her. "Hi mommy, I felled again... look another bruised" Sarah squealed in answer to her moms shout. Her mother and the other woman just chuckled whilst a baffled Chuck looked on in admiration for the brave little girl._

_"Sarah, sweetie what have I told you about watching where you're going?" the blonde woman said to the little girl and then turned to the brunette woman that was trying to get the little boys attention "I'm sorry if my daughter scared him, she just gets too excited sometimes and gets a little silly". "No, it's alright I think he's just dazed" the brunette woman exclaimed as she was looking between her son and the little girl. She then turned to the other woman and introduced herself "Hi, I'm Mary Bartowski, him down there is my son Chuck and on the other side of your daughter trying to tend to her cuts is my daughter Ellie, she keeps saying she wants to be a doctor and I think she's just overprotective of everyone now" laughed the brunette whilst holding out her hand for the other woman to shake. The blonde answered with a swift shake of the woman's hand "Hello, I'm Elizabeth Reynolds and that one down there would be my clumsy daughter Sarah"._

_**16:27**_

_The two women looked down at the children and noticed that Ellie had run off to the slide to play with her friend after she had finished assessing Sarah's cuts. Chuck and Sarah however were still sitting there but they had begun to babble away at each other, big grins present on both of their faces and they would both giggle every so often. In the five minutes that they had been speaking, they had obviously become fast friends and learnt each other's names. "Sarahhhh, come play on the swide with me?" shrieked Chuck. "Okayt Chuck" giggled Sarah as they both struggled to their feet and tottered off in the direction of the slide where Ellie was._

_The two moms carried on speaking once they determined the kids were okay and they found a bench to sit on. They were chattering away and watching the children as they were having fun going up and down the slide together._

_After an hour or two playing on the park, Mary received a phone call from Stephen saying that he was going to serve dinner. Mary in turn, rounded up her two children and organised a play date with Elizabeth for Sarah to go over to their house later in the week. The families bid farewell to each other, with Sarah sneaking a quick slobbery toddler sized peck on Chuck's cheek._


	3. 13 Years Ago  2nd June 1985

**Chapter 2**

**Present Time – 1****st**** October 1998 – 11:23**

Yawn. I just can't stop. I don't feel too good. I was sick this morning and I've worked it out that it has been two months since my last menstrual cycle. There's no doubt in my mind now, but I still don't want to take the stupid test. At least not without Chuck there with me. He should be a part of it. He would want to be a part of it! It's Sunday today and I have school again tomorrow. That's not going so well either. Everyone thinks of me as the foster care kid and once my situation becomes obvious, there will be a lot worse things said about me.

I've been begging my foster carers to let me use the phone to contact Chuck and they seem to be caving. They're actually quite nice once you get to know them. They could be worse I suppose. I've been here for about two weeks now. I was in a children's home for a week before this and that was a nightmare. Children between newborns and seventeen year olds were there. Some quite shy whilst others were lashing out at anyone or anything they could get their hands on. At least I was there with my sister though. Oh, how I miss her. I can't believe we got separated. But she's lucky she'll be out of there in a few months and can live on her own, just as soon as she turns eighteen. I hope she'll visit me.

Anyways, back to Chuck. I miss his curly hair, his big brown eyes and his bright smile that makes my knees go weak every time, he's used it on me so many times but it always makes him look so charming. He's going to be over the moon once he finds out. He's always said that he wanted them. But we thought it would be when we were older. Like, in about another ten years. I suppose things change. Chuck's so lucky he has Ellie to look after and care for him. I promised them that I would never tell my social worker that Ellie has been looking after him on her own for five years. She was only fifteen and Chuck was eleven. But, she stepped up and took the role of their mother and their father after they left. She said that I could stay with them too now that she was twenty but the authorities won't let us. They say that because she's at medical school, they live in a two bedroom apartment and Chuck's the same age as me, I wouldn't be allowed.

**12:01**

So I remember thirteen years ago on Ellie's seventh birthday, there was an accident. This accident was Morgan induced. Morgan was Chuck's friend as he was his next door neighbour. Chuck's parents and Morgan's mom had known each other since before Ellie was even born and had allowed Chuck and Morgan to grow up together. However, at the age of two Morgan's little toddler self began developing a crush on Ellie. He just would not leave her alone. Ellie thought it was quite cute at first, but at the age of seven, with a little boy (that was not her cute baby brother Chucky) following her everywhere she became fairly annoyed. Well the accident went like this:

* * *

_**Thirteen Years Ago – 2****nd**** June 1985 – 17:42**_

_"Ewwie, Ewwie, Ewwie!" shrieked a three year old Morgan as he went barrelling towards her. "Morgan, buddy, slow down your going to cause an accident" shouted a slightly scared Stephen. It was too late. Morgan went crashing into the table piled high with food and drink for Ellie's birthday party guests. Her operation themed cake went splat on the floor._

_"Morgan!" screeched an angry and upset Ellie. Morgan tried to cower away but Ellie and his mom wouldn't let him. They began to lay into him. "What have I told you about watching were your going? Especially when there are so many people around" "Morgan! You've ruined my party! Now what's everyone going to eat? And my lovely cakes wrecked" Both Ellie and Begonia (Morgan's Mom) shouted at him at the same time. Stephen and Elizabeth were trying their hardest to clean up the mess and salvage anything they could, whilst Chuck was shying away from all the attention his best buddy was getting. Sarah was sitting, watching with interest. She then noticed Chuck was hiding in the corner and went over to him._

_"Chucky? Chucky, what's wrong?" Sarah asked in concern. "I don't like the shouting" Chuck whispered back in reply. "It's okay Chuck, I'll protect you!" A big grin started to form on Chucks face and once Sarah noticed, a matching one appeared on her face too. By this time everyone had stopped shouting at Morgan and the Bartowski's had finished cleaning up._

_**18:09**_

_The Bartowski's had begun to talk to Sarah's parents and Morgan's mom, when they noticed that two of their children were very quiet and hadn't been seen for a while (which was unusual for Sarah because she was usually extremely active and causing mischief). Looking around, they saw Sarah and Chuck sitting very close to each other in a corner of the room, holding hands and talking quietly too each other.

* * *

_

**Present Time – 1****st**** October 1998 – 12:23**

Well Ellie forgave Morgan until about a month after the party, but that's another story. At least his accident gave me some toddler one on one time with Chuck. I remember there were about thirty children at the party and Ellie ended up having a 'cake' made up of melted chocolate fingers, she said that if you looked carefully they resembled the structure of the human skeleton. Me, Chuck and many of the other children had no idea what this meant. But Chuck told me to shhh when I was going to say something, he knew it would make Ellie happy if we went along with it. I knew that in return for making Ellie happy, Chuck would be happy too. Him and Ellie were always close; at least they had each other when their parents left.

**14:41**

OH MY GOSH! My foster parents have just said that I can call Chuck tonight and that if him and Ellie can, they can come over for dinner sometime this week. I am so excited! I can finally tell him what I think is up with me and we can find out together whether my assumption is correct or not. I just hope he takes it well. I'm going to ring him in about four hours, then he and Ellie should definitely be back from their annual weekly arcade trip.

**18:53**

** *RingRingRing* **"Hello? This is Ellie Bartowski; may I ask who's calling please?" Always pleasant and polite thought Sarah. "Hey Ellie, its Sarah, is Chuck there please?" Sarah explained in reply. "OMG! Sarah. I hope you're alright. I miss you. Let me just get Chuck" Ellie exclaimed. "CHUUUUCKKKKKKKKKKK!" "YEESS, ELLIE?" "COME HERE! YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE WHO'S ON THE PHONE!" Sarah could hear the conversation going on, on the other end of the phone and then she heard Chuck bounding down the stairs towards Ellie and the phone, meaning he was getting close to HER. Her heart started pounding. 'I can do this. I CAN do this' Sarah thought to herself.

"Hello?" Chuck asked in questioning voice down the phone. "Chuck! It's me" Sarah replied with nervousness and a grin present in her tone. "OMG, Sarah it's you. Are you okay? Where are you? I've missed you? I hope they're treating you right wherever yo-". Sarah broke into Chucks rambling as she knew if she didn't it could go on for some time. "Chuck calm down. I'm fine. Erm, somewhere in LA still, near a Loyola High School? I've missed you too and I'm being treated well. I'm calling because my foster parents; Joan and Sid said that you and Ellie could come over for dinner sometime this week. Can you come? I have something very important we need to talk about" "I'm glad you're okay Sarah, I can't believe how much I miss you! Ellie's listening in; she's saying we can come on Tuesday? Is that okay? Urgent, what's urgent? You best be okay Miss Walker" Chuck asked and exclaimed with a smile present in his voice. "I can't tell you know but I will when I see you. Tuesday's fine. I will see you then? About 17:00? I miss you and I love you. I'm sorry I can't talk more I have to get ready for tomorrows school day" Sarah replied sadly. "Okay babe, I will see you then. Yeah, that's a good time, Ellie will be back and ready for then too and she said she'll drive me over. I miss you and I love you too. I can't wait to see you. E-mail me your address, so that Ellie can find it?" "I will do. I love you. Now I have to go. Bye" "I love you too. Bye" When they finished their phone call, they both had very evident smiles on their faces, bigger than anyone had seen them smile in a while.


	4. 12 Years Ago 24th December 1986  Part 1

**A/N 1 - **So this is just part one of Chapter 3, part 2 should be up soon I hope : ).. But to be honest I don't think this was my best work so I'm sorry if it sucks : (.. Oh well here you are, enjoy : )

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Part 1**

**Present Time – 3rd October 1998 – 10:17**

** Arghhhhhhhhhh. **I need to start thinking of what to say to Chuck tonight. How should I tell him? Should I get the tests before he comes? Or should I wait and we can go and buy them together? Decisions, decisions. But anyways, Chucks coming! I'm so excited, but also extremely terrified. What if it doesn't go well? What will he say? Will he support me? How will Ellie react? If I'm correct I'll have to tell my foster parents and my social worker. What will they say? Will they allow me to keep it? I know that if I am in that special way, I want to keep it. No matter what anyone else thinks or says about me.

My mom wasn't that old when she had me either. They met at college. I think when they had me, she was nineteen and my daddy was twenty. They must have really been in love, to have two small children, when they were under the age of twenty. I miss them. Ellie, Chuck and Morgan are my family now. I miss them too.

At four, me, Chuck and Morgan were sent to school. We were all in the same class. Our teacher always told our parents we were inseparable. We had our own little group and our own special language. I protected Chuck and Chuck protected Morgan. That's how it always was.

I remember when my sister and I discovered that Chuck and Ellie were getting a puppy for Christmas. We had to keep it a secret. It was when we were four and the Bartowski's were throwing their annual Christmas Eve party. The party didn't go so well.

**Twelve Years Ago – 24th December 1986 – 19:12**

The party was pretty much in full swing. Christmas carols were playing and people were happily singing along. There was dancing, cracker pulling and even joke telling, whilst some were eating Christmas pudding. While this was happening, Sarah and her sister; Lisa were hanging some ornaments up on the tree. The tree was quite large, nearly reaching the top of the high rise ceiling and it was already covered in many colourful decorations, ranging from baubles and beads to little cherubs.

Stephen and Mary Bartowski were standing quietly chatting to Begonia Grimes and Elizabeth and Luke Reynolds in a private slightly calmer part of the room that was near to the Christmas tree. However, they didn't realise that even though Sarah and her older sister Lisa were busy hanging decorations and conversing happily with one another, that they could also clearly hear the adult's conversation. So far the sisters hadn't been intrigued by the conversation and therefore had carried on with their task. This was soon to change.

"So, the puppy is being kept in the garage?" enquired Elizabeth. "Yes, but I have no idea how we can't hear the little cutie, he won't stop his yapping and I'm sure he's a piglet not a puppy, you should see how much he's eaten today" replied Mary. "What type of dog is it again?" asked a laughing but curious Begonia. "He's a little Springer spaniel". Both Sarah and Lisa had perked up since they heard the word puppy and where giggling to each other about what Mary Bartowski had said.

Hearing their giggles so close, the adults peaked around the tree and noticed that the young girls where very near to where they were conversing. Realising that they could have overheard their conversation and that Sarah usually told Chuck everything eventually as they were inseparable and that was a chance Lisa could also tell Ellie as although they weren't inseparable, they were still quite close to each other; the adults caught their attention and gently pulled them towards them so that they could ask them not to reveal their hearings to either of the Bartowski offspring.

Once the adults had managed to get the girls over to one side - where no one was in close enough proximity to hear them - they went about asking (and bribing) them to keep the Bartowski children's Christmas present a secret for another day.

Even though Sarah was just four years old, she would do anything to keep her Chuck happy. So when the Bartowski parents told her that if she kept it a secret it wouldn't just make him happy but she would get to open a present that night, she eagerly promised not to spill the beans. It was harder to convince Lisa to keep the secret as she didn't share a close bond with the benefiter like her little sister did. However, once the adults said that she could also open a present early and that she could have a new outfit for New Years (even though she was only five she was very into fashion) and this made her also agree to keep the secret from the Bartowski siblings.

Having not seen Sarah anywhere for the last ten minutes, Chuck started to panic about his best friend. *Where is she?* *Is she hurt* *Did I do something wrong?* *How long has she been there* *Where's all of our parents?* Chucks young mind was working ten to the dozen. But as Chuck thought the last thing, Sarah appeared from around the tree with a contemplative look on her face, she was looking downwards towards the floor. Not noticing that she was being watched and that she was about to walk right into the coffee table. She was startled when she heard Chuck shout her name; she jumped and went "SMACK!" right into the corner of the table. She cried out in agony. Chuck rushed towards her, along with other party goers; Chuck arrived by her side first - having the advantage of being small and being able to push through the many people crowding around her.

Chuck quickly kneeled in front of where she was doubled over in pain and gently grabbed her tear streaked face. He knew it must have hurt her pretty bad because Sarah never cried, EVER. Sarah kept her hands wrapped around her midsection and tried to snuggle closer in to Chuck, but he was having none of it. He was trying to console her, whilst also trying to get her to lift her top up so that he could see whether his calling out her name had hurt her. Chuck thought he was an expert in medical diagnoses as his sister was always playing doctors with him. Also, because he was a clumsy nerd he was always getting hurt and had to be checked out by either his parents or the local nurse.

Sarah's dad reached the two children, quickly followed by her mom. By the time they got to them, Chuck had obviously persuaded her to lift her top so that he could check her stomach and ribs to see whether the chair had injured her, he was gently poking his fingers around where she said it hurt and had his face pressed close up so that he could see if there were any perforations, lumps or bruises. As they were only four, Chuck's diagnosis was probably only valid in Sarah's eyes and not in the eyes of the adults. As Chuck was probing about, he didn't notice Sarah grimacing all the while, but he did notice that as his hands were on her stomach and there was no room for her arms to be placed there also so she was grabbing fistfuls of his t-shirt.

Sarah's dad went to gently move Chuck out the way so that he could take a look at his youngest daughter; Sarah was not letting Chuck go. She grasped his t-shirt firmer and pulled him towards herself. The party goers had been asked to step back from the children and they were now all helping the Bartowski's to tidy up or were keeping the other children occupied. As Sarah wouldn't let Chuck go, the adults asked him whether he noticed anything wrong with Sarah's stomach when he was inspecting it. Chuck answered "She has a mighty big, icky bruise and something seems to be sticking out a little where she told me she went into the chair" in reply to them. Luke's eyebrow rose in reaction and his face seemed to go eerily dark. Chuck noticed this – ever the observant one – and he in turn looked very scared and reacted by carefully pulling Sarah closer to his little body.

Sarah's mom and dad looked at each other. Communicating with their eyes, they mutually agreed that Sarah needed to be checked out by one of the. "Chuck? We need to take a look at Sarah, sweetie" Elizabeth cooed at him. Chuck tried to prise Sarah's hands from his t-shirt but she just took a firmer grip. Chuck started quietly whispering in her ear – no one else could hear what was being said – after a while of him whispering she slowly loosened her grasp, allowing Chuck to shuffle slightly away. This gave the adults room to swoop in, but Chuck was still close enough that Sarah could take hold of his hand.

As Sarah's mom was a nurse, she was the one that checked her daughter. Seeing that Chuck was correct in saying that there was a big bruise marring most of Sarah's pale skin on her stomach, she also poked and prodded her to see whether there were any signs of harsher injury. On inspection, she felt that something seemed to stick out a bit and that it was along her rib cage. *She must have hit the table with some force* thought Elizabeth. Gently pulling Sarah's top back down, she turned towards her husband and voiced her concerns "Luke, I think we need to take her to the emergency room to make sure she hasn't cracked a rib". "It'll be ages before she's seen to tonight, the ER will be packed because it's Christmas" Luke replied. "I think Susie's a doctor, you should ask her to check her" Mary Bartowski exclaimed to Elizabeth, indicating that someone should search and call for Ellie's friend's mother.

Stephen Bartowski looked around for Susie and once he spotted her, he called her over. Susie walked at a quick pace towards the group; she had kept away because she thought it would just be due to shock that Sarah was crying. But now she had a feeling that the usually brave little girl was injured to some extent. Susie asked the adults for a report of what they had discovered on the little blondie and then knelt down in front of where Chuck had Sarah pulled up against his small chest. She had stopped crying and was talking quietly with Chuck, whilst he was trying to keep her mind off of the pain. Susie left Sarah sitting where she was and asked her whether she could take a look at her side. Once she had the affirmative nod, she lifted Sarah's top out of the way and checked it out. Two minutes later she lowered the top, stood up and turned to the adults. "It's just very bruised and I think she might have slightly cracked a rib, but it'll be better for me to just bandage it up and for you to put Sarah in bed for some rest than it would to take her to the Emergency Room" She explained to the Reynolds. "Why's that?" replied a concerned Elizabeth. "Cause its Christmas Eve and the ER will be packed and also with plenty of rest the crack will heal by itself. Let me just go get my first aid kit out of the car".

Susie came back minutes later carrying a small green first aid kit and bandaged Sarah's ribs up. The Bartowski's had obviously spoken to the Reynolds and because it was their tradition for the Reynolds and the Grimes to come back over in the morning so that they could open their presents together, they said that it would be easier to stay overnight. As there were two guest rooms Luke and Elizabeth could share one, Begonia and Morgan could share the other, Lisa could bunk with Ellie and Sarah could stay with Chuck. Sarah let go of Chuck long enough for Susie to bandage her up and for her father to carry her to Chuck's bedroom. Chuck went to the bathroom to change into his PJ's and clean his teeth and as Sarah often had sleepovers at the Bartowski household, she had a set of PJ's too (which her mom helped her into).

Everyone had gone home from the party a while ago and those that were left were now either in bed or were cleaning up the mess. The parents were waiting for all the children to be sound asleep so that they could put the finishing touches to the tree (including putting the presents underneath it), they were also busy eating/ drinking the milk and cookies Ellie, Lisa and Morgan had put out for Santa. Once they were satisfied with the downstairs they bid goodnight to each other and returned to their prospective rooms.

* * *

**A/N 2 - **I'm sooo sorry it's been like four weeks since I updated! Thank you for anyone that's been waiting : ).. I don't have a valid reason and my excuse consists of: Mine and C's (agent_chuckles) muses running off together and eloping and then when they came back she stole mine -_- lol.. So anyway I hope you enjoy this update :)


End file.
